IT was queues, queues and more queues for drivers as roadworks caused tailbacks on main routes into the city.

Worcester businesses are upset over lost trade, saying the closure of Tolladine Road could have been more clearly sign-posted.

National Grid is replacing gas mains by the railway bridge and has shut the road in both directions for up to four months.

With the closure of one of the busiest roads into the city, drivers were diverted along Newtown Road where in the first two days after the half term, queues of up to 40 minutes in the morning rush hour were reported.

By yesterday, queues were down to between 10 and 25 minutes stretching from the Sheriff Street junction to the Canterbury Road junction in Ronkswood.

However, there were longer than usual tail-backs in London Road and the A4440 as drivers tried to outflank the roadworks.

There were still lengthy queues after the morning rush at about 9.15am.

City councillor Marc Bayliss was caught up in a tailback travelling to a work meeting at about 8.20am.

He said he had lost 10 minutes and pointed out that drivers were ignoring the bus lane at the Newtown Road and Sheriff Street junction.

This caused a few frayed tempers as drivers hopped lanes to get ahead of the cars in front.

Meanwhile van drivers further back in the queues said they had been waiting up to 25 minutes. One driver, who had come along the motorway from Solihull, near Birmingham, said the queues were “a joke”, while another said it had taken him more than an hour to get from Redditch to Ronkswood.

Liza Stephenson, who runs the Tolladine Service Station, said traffic on the road had “dropped 70 per cent” since the closure on Friday, June 3.

“The problem for us is the road closure sign at the top of Tolladine Road, which means drivers are immediately turning around.

There is a sign saying ‘businesses open as usual’ but you do not pass that until you get further along the road, so it’s too late.

“The fact is, Tolladine Road is open right down to the junction with Sheriff Street, so you can get to the city centre but the signs do not make that clear.”

We reported last week how firms on Worcester Trade Park (formerly the Countrywide Trade Estate) were upset over the length and the sign-posting of the closure.

A spokesman for National Grid said a manager was going to speak with the service station’s staff about their concerns so the issue could be “sorted out”.

First Bus has been advising passengers of delays to its services.

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